Playing Chicken.

So That'll Be State Senate GOP1, RendellNil, Then.
After some pretty severe rhetoric about how he planned to defy the Republican-controlled Senate if it failed to reconfirm his secretaries of DCNR and DEP, Gov. Edended up blinking after all yesterday.At a hastily called news conference, Rendell said he was resubmitting the names of DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty and DCNR Secretary Mike DeBeradinis for reconsideration by the Senate. He also said he planned to seek an emergency opinion from the state Ethics Commission on whether the two cabinet officials acted improperly when their agencies awarded grants to organizations with ties to their respective spouses.The news conference came just two hours after Rendell drew a stark line in the sand, saying he'd appoint the two as "acting secretaries" if the Senate rejected their renominations. McGinty and DeBeradinis have run DEP and DCNR since 2003.Wednesday was the last legislative session day the Senate could reject
or approve the two nominees. By withdrawing and resubmitting their
nominations, Rendell gives the Senate another 25 legislative days to
consider them, the Associated Press reports this morning.
The reported grant totals have risen to well over $4 million from $1.5
million first reported by the Philadelphia Daily News on Friday as more
records are discovered or disclosed by the administration.Rendell continued to insist yesterday that neither DeBeradinis nor McGinty had acted improperly -- even as he agreed with the Senate's request for an ethics review. He also blamed the Senate for practicing partisan politics while the rest of his spring agenda goes unreviewed.The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

Gov. Lead Foot.As much as we're loathe to keep kicking Gov. Ed here, we'd be remiss if we didn't pass along the following
item about his driving habits.When he was asked yesterday about the plight of hospitalized N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine, Rendell admitted that he always wears a seatbelt, but that his State Police drivers don't always obey the posted speed limits."I never leave the house or the Capitol without buckling up," he explained. "Sometimes we adhere to the speed limit, sometimes we don't."Then, adding further elucidation, he said:"I've told my troopers that I don't want them to exceed 80 MPH, unless there's a real reason to pass it."The Guv', however, neglected to mention what those reasons are (he's late for an Eagles game, maybe?).In The Midst Of All This ...... you might be forgiven if you overlooked the fact that four House Democrats (three of whom were
actually interesting to listen to) announced that they were the official water-carriers for Gov. Ed's Alternative Energy agenda.The plan would, according to parts we managed to stay awake through, allow residential utility customers to schedule appliance usage for non-peak hours, our friends at Capitolwire report this morning. The administration says this would save the average user about $70 a year. The plan would also fund half the cost of residential solar panels.The highlight of the energy plan is an $850 million bond issue that would provide grants and loans for renewable energy and conservation projects. It also includes mandates that a certain percentage of gasoline and diesel fuel consist of such renewable sources as the press release we're plagiarizing at this very moment. The bond fund would cost about $6 a year for the average residential customer, and more for commercial and industrial utility hogs.But our favorite part of yesterday's press conference unveiling the plan may have been Gov. Ed's decision to use state Rep. Bud George, D-Clearfield (and the prime sponsor) as his prop boy."Bud," Gov. Ed said. "Hold up that smart meter, willya?""Bud," Gov. Ed said a few minutes later. "Hold up that solar panel, willya?"We almost expected that to be followed with something like, "Bud, hand me that piece of yellowcake uranium, wouldja?"

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese ...... was on Capitol Hill yesterday, where he called on a Congressional subcommittee to repeal part of a 2005
law that he says takes away local governments' right to determine where high-voltage powerlines can run through their communities. More astute readers may recall that DeWeese is protesting the Feds' decision to run a gajillion-volt set of high tension lines through his southwestern Pennsylvania district. We've been to Greene County, and we thought the lines might actually gussy up the joint a bit, but what do we know?Anyway, we were hoping that the trip to our nation's capital might force DeWeese to abandon some his characteristically baroque language. But if the press release we got today was any indication, he most likely bored the bejesus out of the committee, or sent 'em scrambling for their Webster's Ninth Collegiate."This [federal] law is devoid of public benefit, ignores environmentally clean, renewable, energy-efficient alternatives and sacrifices the traditional power of states to adopt, administer and manage land use policies and decisions, especially if a decision would conflict with the ambitions of profit motivated corporations seeking to locate and construct high-voltage transmission lines," DeWeese said, IN A SINGLE SENTENCE with more dependent clauses than a roomful of Christmas elves.Good Lord. We need to hook up a ventilator just reading that.

Gratuitous Industry Plug:In which we dutifully mention that the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association has unveiled a new Web page that's designed to " give [the] public a way to participate in critical discussion of access to government information."The 'blog, we're told, is focusing on pending state legislation that would substantially revamp Pennsylvania's antiquated Open Records Law for the first time since it was originally approved in 1958. "This state has a long, sad tradition of keeping its citizens in the dark when it comes to information about government operations," said Tim Williams, PNA's President. Full Disclosure: In our capacity as president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association, we offered our recommendations to Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, as he drafted his version of the bill. Gov. Ed is also pushing his own rendition. Sadly, he did not ask us how we felt about it.Not that we're taking that personally or anything ...

Press Release Mad Libs.In what must have been an e-mail blast of truly epic proportions, the kids at the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee sent us exactly identical press releases whacking U.S. Reps. Charlie Dent, R-15th, and Jim Gerlach, R-6th, for voting against yesterday's Iraq funding bill. Y'know, the one the POTUS has promised to veto because it contains deadline for troop withdrawals.We're not going to reproduce them here. They pretty much read, "Blah, blah, blah, Dent/Gerlach, blah, blah, troops, blah, blah, blah, veterans."We will, however, reproduce the canned soundbite from DCCC mouthpiece JenniferCrider, who said Dent/Gerlach/Every Other Republican in the House were giving "President Bush another blank check for the war in Iraq while shortchanging our troops and veterans ... The best way Representative Your Name Herecould support our troops is by telling the President to bring them home, not continue to Rubber Stamp his failed Iraq policy."EdWatch (TM):Perhaps preferring to be anywhere but in Harrisburg today, Gov. Ed hits the road. He's making stops inPittsburgh (10 a.m.); Wilkes-Barre (1 p.m.), and Philly (3:30 p.m.), which will find him plugging his "Prescription for Pennsylvania" healthcare plan.

Still Another Gratuitous Plug:We'll be appearing on this week's edition of Pennsylvania Newsmakers with WGAL-TV guy Ben Simoneau. The show hosted by professional sage G. Terry Madonna airs in the Harrisburg market on Sunday right after Meet the Press. The show is currently winning its time-slot, but we're pretty sure the only competition at that hour is a 15-year-old informercial for a Ronco food dehydrator and repeats of Davy and Goliath.

In The Blogosphere:Keystone Politics helps debunk the myth that rising insurance costs forced doctors out of the state; GrassrootsPA on Gov. Ed's showdown with the Senate; Above Average Jane on flooding; Bernie O'Hare on the Easton mayoral race; Pennsyltucky Politics is back in action (the Force is strong with this one); Matt Best has some further thoughts on Cumberland County politics; A Big Fat Slob on playing the authenticity card; Tony Phyrillas on self-promoting pols; Wonkette has your daily briefing; DCist has the Picture of the Day (TM), and Arianna Huffington on Petraeus Ex Machina.On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning.On Day Four of Australian Music Week, we turn to MCall.com Web producer Marc Rosenberg, who tells us that we don't know what we're missing by passing up the solo work of former Men At Work leader Colin Hay. Regular readers of this space may recall our vow on Monday to get through this overly contrived attempt to attract new fans by explicitly not to featuring the ubiquitous 80s popsters. Since we mysteriously find ourselves locked out of YouTube account this morning, we can't post a clip of Mr. Hay in action. But Rosenberg swears by the solo track "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin," which you can hear by following this link. Rosenberg hasn't steered us wrong yet. So no pressure, Marc.

Thursday's Gratuitous Soccer Link.The sages at UEFAhave levied fines against both AS Roma and Manchester United for the fan violence that marred the first leg of their Champions League tie at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on April 4.United were fined 35,000 Swiss francs, which roughly works out to about US$30,000 for their fans' role in the violence, which included the lighting of flares and the throwing of missiles.After reviewing video evidence, UEFA bosses decided Roma fans were the worst-behaved of the bunch and hit the Italian side with a fine of $75,000 Swiss francs, or roughly about $62,000 or thereabouts. We 're converting from Swiss francs to English pounds to U.S. dollars, so our math could be a bit off.

Current Comments

The governor's claim that the Senate's request for additional information was somehow partisan is both unfortunate and demonstrably false. In the Associated Press article which you link to here, it says "the Senate's Democratic leader, Robert J. Mellow of Lackawanna County, said he supported taking more time to answer questions about the grants." That would officially make the request bi-partisan.